Higgins (Westport)
Description
A family connected with Westport from the late 17th century, represented in the early 19th century by Captain FitzGerald Higgins who married Mary Ouseley. They had at least 2 sons. In London in July 1842 the eldest son, Charles FitzGerald Higgins, eloped with an heiress Amelia Jodrell. Another son George Gore Ouseley Higgins represented county Mayo in Parliament, where he was an advocate of tenant right and religious liberty.
Estate(s)
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Higgins (Westport) | In 1703 Bryan Higgins bought part of the estate of Gerald Dillon of Feamore, county Mayo, from the Trustees for the sale of forfeited estates. He also held some of the lands of the Browne family of Westport, county Mayo, when they were in financial difficulties at the beginning of the 18th century. These lands in time reverted to the Brownes. Later generations of Higgins held property in the town of Westport from the Marquessess of Sligo. One member of the family Charles Fitzgerald Higgins went bankrupt in the mid 1850s. In 1866 he sold his property at Streamstown, parish of Oughaval, which he held from the Earl of Lucan. In 1851 the Higgins bought part of the Glencorrib estate, which was sold by Arthur Dillon Browne following the death of his father Robert in 1850 and the townland of Ballynalty from the sale of the Cannon estate by John Fair. Like Robert Dillon Browne, George Gore Ouseley Higgins represented county Mayo in Parliament. He died in 1874 and after the death in 1903 of his sister, a nun in the Ursuline Convent, Cork, the estate was inherited by his cousin, General John Palmer Brabazon, a member of the Brabazon family of Brabazon Park, Swinford. It was sold in 1921 to the Land Commission. |
| Browne/Dillon-Browne (Glencorrib) | A branch of the Browne family of the Neale, barony of Kilmaine, county Mayo, settled near the village of Kilmaine and were generally known as of 'Ellistron' in the 18th century. In 1681 Valentine Browne was granted over 2,000 acres in the baronies of Kilmaine, Carra, Gallen and Tirawley, county Mayo with lands in counties Galway and Clare. In the 18th century the main part of the estate was in the parishes of Kilmainemore and Shrule. Two of the townlands belonging to them in the parish of Shrule, Mocorha and Bunnafollistran, had been sold to Sir Walter Blake in September 1699 by the trustees for the sale of the estate of Colonel John Browne of Westport. Robert Browne of Ellistron, parish of Kilmainemore, had a son Arthur who lived at Turin in the early 19th century. By the time of the first Ordnance Survey the Brownes were living at Glencorrib in the parish of Shrule. The last member of the family to reside at Glencorrib was Robert Dillon Browne, Member of Parliament and well known duellist, who sold the Browne estate in the barony of Kilmaine and the Holywell estate in the barony of Costello, county Mayo, in the early 1850s. The Glencorrib estate was bought by the Higgins family of Westport and James D.Meldon and the Kilmaine lands by Robert Tighe and Robert Fair. In 1882 over 150 acres in the baron of Longford, county Galway, the property of Arthur and Anne Dillon-Browne was offered for sale in the Land Judges court. In July 1882 the Irish Times reported that the Court had been informed that the tenants on the estate were willing to offer a total of £1106 to buy the property but that the owner sought a bid of up to £3000. The sale was adjourned. |
| Brabazon | This family were descended from Sir Anthony Brabazon of Ballinasloe Castle, a younger brother of Sir Edward Brabazon, ancestor of the Earls of Meath. They acquired lands around Ballinasloe under the Composition of Connacht. Some of these estates were later forfeited as a result of the conversion to Catholicism of Anthony Brabazon. In Mayo their estate of circa 7000 acres was mainly in the parishes of Kilconduff and Meelick but also contained lands in the parishes of Templemore, Killasser and Attymass, barony of Gallen, county Mayo. Quinn writes that the estate was advertised for sale in 1850 but the family managed to retain it by borrowing. Almost 4000 acres of fee simple and leasehold estates in the baronies of Gallen and Costello, county Mayo and in the baronies of Moycarn, Castlereagh and Frenchpark, county Roscommon, were advertised in a further sale in October 1852. The purchasers included William Lewis, Hugh Higgins and Walter Duffy. In 1876 the Brabazons still owned 6857 acres in county Mayo though they had not resided at Swinford for many years. At the same time H.S. Brabazon held over 1200 acres in county Roscommon while Thomas Brabazon, of Brich Grove, Ballinasloe, owned over 400 acres in the same county. The estate was sold to the Congested Districts' Board on 5 Mar 1914. They inherited the Glencorrib estate of the Higgins in the early 20th century. See http://www.brabazonarchive.com/ and www.ballinasloe.org. |